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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;red_spork, post: 2810008, member: 74282&quot;]I am a &quot;millennial&quot; myself. I just turned 26 and I began collecting ancients at 22 after having only very casually collected coins modern coins previously, mostly picking interesting things out of change. I talk to many collectors young and old and one big thing I&#039;ve noticed is that many who grew up with the internet simply have different philosophies around things like coin shows, coin clubs, etc, than those who did not. Whereas many of the older collectors I speak to are members of local clubs if they exist, many younger members are content being members of &quot;virtual clubs&quot; and whatnot, and similarly whereas many older members plan months ahead to go to the biggest coin shows, many younger collectors are content buying coins on eBay, VCoins, etc.</p><p><br /></p><p>A prime example of this difference can be seen on Facebook. There are Facebook groups dedicated to various types of collecting and many have thousands of members, one has over 22,000 members, and they range from groups full of pictures of coins with little discussion to groups where deep, engaging discussion is the norm and whose membership contains academics, dealers and focused collectors. I can say with certainty that these groups have made my collecting experience better because all of the local coin clubs are focused on modern coins, which I honestly do not care about and do not collect, however through these groups I&#039;ve actually managed to arrange ad-hoc meetups with other collectors of ancients in the area whom I would have never met through the local coin clubs.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, that said, I think there&#039;s one glaring reason why you don&#039;t see a lot of younger collectors who get deeply interested in coins: money. Honestly most of the people I know that are my age have relatively little disposable income. I was fortunate enough that I could make a career out of something I enjoy doing and that that career gives me enough money to pay the bills, add to my 401k and savings, keep the wife happy and still have a decent bit at the end of the month to build a coin collection and numismatic library with. I know several people my age including some collectors, working two jobs to pay off student loans, pay the bills, put food on the table and survive until the next paycheck comes in. They can&#039;t spend much on coins and at a certain point most of the collectors I know in this category end up dropping out because they feel like they can&#039;t afford anything interesting. Maybe one day if their situation changes they&#039;ll pick up collecting again, but I can&#039;t really blame them.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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